Buhari Absent from Visit to Scene of Abuja Bomb Blasts

Kayode Sesan | Lagos

President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday in Abuja reaffirmed the determination of his administration to rid the country of extremism as a way of eradicating violence in the country.

Following the Friday, October 2, 2015 bomb blasts that rocked Kuje and Nyanya areas of Abuja, President Buhari sent a delegation to the scene of the blast.

A statement by the president’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said Buhari expressed this after receiving a briefing from a fact-finding team sent to the parts of the Federal Capital territory affected by Friday’s bomb attacks.

The President said that for terrorism to be uprooted from the country, the society must be rid of violent extremism.

“The defeat of Boko Haram insurgency is in sight but to remove violence and make the country safe, we must tackle the prevalence of violent extremism.

“In doing this, we will learn from the experience of the international community,’’ he said.

President Buhari directed the security services to raise their surveillance activities to meet the challenges of a retreating,desperate terrorists and for the general public to remain acutely aware of security in and around them.

He sympathised with the families of the victims of the incidents as well as the families of the more than 100 others who were killed in similar fresh incidents in Borno.

The fact-finding team visited the Kuje and Nyanya bombing sites and sympathised with the victims of the incidents at the National Hospital and the Maitama General Hospital. President Buhari was conspicuously absent.

The team was made up of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Babachir Lawal; the Chief of Staff, Malam Abba Kyari; the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health and that of the FCT as well as the Police Commissioner in charge of the FCT.

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